Well, what can I say — it was underwhelming.

My jury duty began with a summons to be available the week of November 3, 2003. Ok, I can be available. Los Angeles County has adopted a one day jury service system. Eligible citizens serve one day (and if impaneled, one trial) once per year.

After four days of checking in with the court, today was my day. Now, I have to tell you I was underwhelmed with my assignment to the Compton court. I really wasn’t interested in driving twenty miles for jury service. When I called to change my court assignment, however, I got a long spiel on jurors being selected from all over the county to assure a more fair and impartial panel. Ok, they guilted me — last thing I want to be is a hypocrite.

So I got up early this morning for my service — they expected us there at 7:45 A.M. I still can’t figure this one out — I’ve never been in a courtroom where the judge arrived to work before ten o’clock, but I digress.

I was late for my service. It took me an hour and a half to drive to Compton. Why didn’t anyone tell me the traffic in L.A. was bad? I mean really bad. I don’t think I exceeded thirty miles an hour the entire time I was on the freeway.

Even though I arrived late, we still had to wait until ten o’clock to get any real information. The court was impaneling for a ’special circumstances’ case. The clerks read the defendant’s name and everyone gasped. I never heard of him. I’m thinking I should read the paper more often. They needed five hundred jurors for next week — then the clerk started calling names. But first, most people were excluded from this potentially sixty day trial if: they were self-employed, had limited jury days from work, or were enrolled as students. That left, according to them, homemakers and retired folk. I imagine that’s not a jury of the defendant’s peers.

So, we waited to see if any other trials were coming down the pike. About half of the people were chosen, the rest of us when home. That s it. The upside? They have a huge projection TV and DVD player in the room — the audience preference this morning — Eddie Murphy’s Daddy Day Care.

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